Masakage Hitajima

Masakage Hitajima was a Yamanouchi Uesugi warrior who was best known for his defense of Tochigi Castle in 1548, riding out to slay Ujiyasu Hojo but falling to the Hojo warrior Toriyama Hojo.

Biography
Masakage was born in Shimotsuke Province in around 1500 to the Hitajima clan, a sub-servient clan of the Uesugi. Masakage was the brother of Masayuki Hitajima, and both of them fought in the Siege of Kawagoe Castle and the Battle of Teruyama. Masakage captured a Hojo steed, Ink Stone, and that became his mount. In 1548, three years after Kawagoe, he rode his horse into enemy lines during the Battle of Tochigi Castle, intending to either slay Hojo daimyo Ujiyasu Hojo or die a warrior's death. Toriyama Hojo, a second cousin of Ujiyasu, blocked the path and cut him down.